


I was a boy when I learned how to run

by laurel_crown



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 19:47:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurel_crown/pseuds/laurel_crown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor crash lands on a new planet, but what's that following behind him ...?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I was a boy when I learned how to run

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Teenage Rebel by Chameleon Circuit. See how many instances of Latin geekery you can find!

The girl was walking through the dusty streets, winding her way with ease past the low, angular buildings. She reached a street stall selling food, shook the dirt from her dress, and began to haggle for a price. She was old friends with the owner of the stall, so it was considerably later when the girl finally left, tucking her purchases into the sturdy leather satchel she carried on one shoulder.

“Hey! Aello!” the vendor called. “Mind you tell your ma to cook them vegetables nice and long! Old and tough they are, this being well into the dry season an’ all.”

“Don’t worry, Jed,” Aello smiled. This exchange was by now a familiar ritual. “I’ll tell her.”

“Yeah, good!” was the reply, as always. “On with you, you little rascal! Distracting me from other customers, you are!”

She winked at the old man before turning away. 

 

Soon Aello heard a faint noise; a sound she’d never heard in her life. It came in pulses, each louder than the last, and sounded like it was coming from the alley just ahead of her.

She paused, wary, and was trying to think what it could possibly be when a man flew out of the alley and crashed to the ground. Aello rushed forward, throwing caution to the desert Winds as she helped the man sit up. 

It was only when the stranger was gratefully sipping from her water flask, gasping from his coughing fit, when she realised that he was very untidy. Even more than what he should be, having just fallen and choked on the dust from the streets. 

The man looks like he’s fallen down five times, not once! Aello thought. His brown hair was a total mess, and his weird clothes all rumpled. He was wearing blue trousers and some sort of short blue robe, with a long tan coat over the top. At least _that_ was normal. But the man was still very odd-looking; pale, thin, with no beard – and was that a scorch mark on his coat?

At last Aello realised what was troubling her so about the man’s appearance; he was streaked with soot, underneath all the dust. She was having second thoughts about this man. But his eyes were so friendly as he passed her back her water. Maybe she could trust him, after all.

“Thank you,” he said, finally recovered. “I had … a bit of an accident. Kind of hard to explain. Where am I? By the way, I’m the Doctor.” He grinned amiably at her.

Aello was about to tell him when a horn sounded. She leaped to her feet, fumbling with the scarf around her neck. The man stood up as well, looking around as he tried to determine where the sound was coming from.

“What’s happening?” he asked. 

“Dust storm!” said Aello, tying her scarf over her mouth and nose. She looked worriedly at the strange man as she unfolded the flap in her headscarf, sheltering her eyes. 

“Shut your eyes! Cover your nose!” she yelled at him, tying up her robe. “I’ll take you to my house!”

The man, the Doctor as he called himself, must have seen from her expression how serious the situation was; he quickly closed his eyes and lifted his coat to cover his face. Aello just had time to reach out and grab his arm before the storm hit, and the wind was everywhere. 

* * *

Aello stood still for a moment, legs braced against the blast. She was trying to think of the quickest way to get back home, but it was hard to picture streets when the storm was doing its best to choke her with dust and sand.

Finally she came to a decision and pulled the man closer to her. She walked slowly, leaning into the wind and keeping her eyes shut most of the time. She didn’t bother trying to look at the Doctor; Aello knew she would barely be able to see him even if she could shelter her eyes for that long.

As the unlikely duo walked on, Aello started to have doubts again. Where had he come from? How could he get into her town and not know where he was? 

Stop it, she told herself firmly. No matter how weird this man is, you can’t leave him to the mercy of the dust storm! He looks so battered already he can’t do any damage at home … and Ma will be a match for him if he is troublesome. 

Alright, alright! Aello’s contrary self cried. This ‘Doctor’ can come home. But as soon as he’s caught his breath let’s ask him about that accident of his.

 

“Oof!”

Aello leaned against the door, panting, enjoying the sensation of sand-free air spilling into her lungs. She opened her eyes when the door shuddered, but it was only the Doctor joining her.

“That was exciting!” He grinned down at her before bending over and scuffing the sand from his hair. 

Aello stopped wondering about the stranger’s sanity and giggled; it hardly seemed possible, but his hair looked even worse.

“What?” The Doctor frowned, and then his eyes widened. “Oh.” He rubbed his head ruefully. “Not much I can do about this disaster. It used to be much easier to handle. Before _that_ , though, goodness …”

“Take off your coat and shoes,” Aello ordered, removing her own. “Or you’ll go tramping sand through the house, and Ma’ll have my … are your shoes _red?_ ” She had quite forgotten her decision to ask about his arrival.

The Doctor looked up. “Yes?” He held them against his chest. “Is that a problem?”

“I guess no-”

“Aello!” The other door opened to reveal her mother, brandishing a ladle. “What took so … who’s this?”

“Ma, this is-”

“I’m the Doctor.” He strode forward and held out a hand, then put it in his pocket when Aello’s mother looked at it quizzically. “Ah, your daughter was kind enough to offer me shelter from the storm.” Aello reached the doorway in time to see his mouth quirk, as if at some private joke.

“Venti welcome you, then,” said her mother, when no bow seemed to be forthcoming. “I am Idetta.”

“Work.”

“Sorry?”

“Er.” The Doctor blinked. “I mean, thank you. And you are Aello?” He laughed when she nodded. “How appropriate.” Before Aello could ask why, the Doctor coughed and pulled a face. “It seems the dust has re-established itself. Could I trouble you for some water?”

Idetta looked at him closely, and then obviously decided he wasn’t too strange to be let inside. “Of course.” 

* * *

“That’s better,” said the Doctor, after draining his mug. “Far too much magnesium in that dust for my taste. But hardly any iron, which is …” He trailed off as he noticed both women staring at him. “Anyway, you were going to tell me the name of your lovely town, Aello. Not that I’ve seen much of it, that is.”

“You don’t know where you are?” Idetta paused over the table, mugs forgotten in her hands. 

The Doctor sighed. “Not as such. My transport ran into some trouble, so she kind of … _crashed_ here. Though perhaps the name of the desert would be more helpful.”

Aello frowned. “Tundor’s a day’s ride from the edge, how can you not know what the desert’s called?”

“Indulge me,” said the Doctor, an edge of old frustration in his voice.

“The Great Desert, of course.”

He laughed. “Of course! _So_ helpful.” He rubbed his forehead. “Any other names?”

“I think there was an old map at school that called it … the Saelb?” Aello glanced at her mother for confirmation, who nodded without stopping her meal preparations.

“Saelb …” The Doctor moved his jaw as if he were rolling the word around his mouth. For a few moments his gaze seemed as distant as the stars. “Nope! No idea.” A goofy smile spread across his face.

Aello blinked at the sudden shift, then kept staring as the Doctor licked his lips. He was the most fascinating person she’d ever met.

“Definitely not Earth though, I _knew_ the ratio was off. All part of the fun, of course, but it is _nice_ knowing where you are right from the outset sometimes. Do you think I’m weird?”

The question was fired at her so unexpectedly that Aello blurted the truth. “Uh, yes.” She did her best not to blink at the dark eyes now inches from her own.

“Excellent.” The Doctor leaned back and grinned. “Shows _your_ head’s on straight, at least. Now.” He put his elbows on the table and gave her such an intent look Aello wriggled beneath it. “I’m going to ask you some very odd questions, so please just answer them – with the _minimum_ of unnecessary objections. How many moons do you have?”

“Wha-” Aello cut herself off at the Doctor’s raised eyebrow. “Three.”

“Do you have colour vision?”

“Of course I do!”

“Is your whole world desert?”

“What? No!”

“What does your tongue look like?”

“Oi!” Idetta rapped the table with her ladle, making them both jump. “Say something like that again and I’ll throw you out, storm or no storm!” 

“Sorry!” The Doctor watched the ladle waving under his nose nervously, sighing in relief when Idetta turned back to her stew. “Always the _mothers_ …” he muttered. Then he glanced sideways at Aello, smiled, and poked his tongue out. “That look normal?”

“Yes!” Aello whacked his arm, startling an ‘ah!’ out of him. “It also looked _rude!_ ”

“It was more polite than pulling out my sonic screwdriver for a little scan, wasn’t it?”

“Wha-”

“Never mind.” The Doctor patted his chest. “I don’t need it, anyway, you’re definitely human.”

Aello opened and shut her mouth. “… What else could I be?”

“Well-” He visibly checked himself from answering. “You never know,” he said eventually, tugging his earlobe. “I get around.”

* * *

The conversation continued like this for some time, if such a sporadic procession of topics could be given a cohesive title. Then Aello felt a familiar rhythm arch up her spine from the chair, and vibrate through her head. One-two-three-four.

She smiled, but the Doctor leaped to his feet with a sharp cry. “No!” Deaf to Aello and Idetta’s gasps, he clutched at the table as the drumbeat was repeated. “He _burned_ …” The Doctor’s face was twisted into something terrible and ageless, and only the thought of removing it gave Aello the courage to speak.

“Doctor-” He turned to meet her gaze, and for a moment Aello could see the naked sorrow etched there, but something else too – something that made the universe spin. Then he blinked, his eyes were just eyes, and Aello was left picking up the pieces of her sentence, fighting vertigo. “It’s the signal that the storm has passed. Only a short one, it seems.”

“Oh.” The Doctor gingerly sank back into his chair, still gripping the table so hard his already-pale fingers were bone white. Aello realised they would probably shake if he let go. “Forgive me,” he said at last, not looking up. “I lost … someone … recently.” He swallowed, mouth quirking as he added, “He had a … _fascination_ with drums.”

He fell silent, staring at the stone underneath his hands. Aello felt her lingering uncertainty crumple below sympathy at this unmistakably lonely stance. Glancing over, she saw her mother’s frozen expression had also softened at the edges.

Before either could say anything, the Doctor appeared to drag his thoughts back from whatever dark place they had been, and raised his head. “Storm’s over, you said?” At Aello’s nod, he did his best to smile. “Well then, could I trouble you to guide me back to my ship?”

 

Aello led him quickly to the alley, eager to see what kind of mad transport someone like the Doctor used. To her dismay, it looked like nothing more than a narrow blue box, only half the Doctor’s height again. Hardly impressive – though it _was_ wood, a rarity in Tundor. But he rushed over to it, fussing over dust in the crevices before pulling out a key.

The Doctor tried to open the door, but the key refused to turn. He pushed a few times, frowning, then rubbed his hand over a panel. “What’s wrong?”

Aello opened her mouth to say _she_ was hardly going to know, then realised the question wasn’t directed at her.

“Why won’t you let me in?” The Doctor paused as if listening to something. “Nonsense, you’ve had plenty of time to-” He stopped, face changing abruptly, and pressed his forehead to the door. He stood there for a couple of seconds, motionless. Just as Aello was about to ask what he was doing, he stepped back, looking offended.

“Vanity!” The Doctor pointed a finger accusingly at the box. “No excuses, it’s pure vanity!”

“What-”

He threw both hands in the air. “She’s fixed the core, but the uncertainty matrix is still at the wrong potential, and it’ll look _messy_ …” The light at the top of the box flashed, startling Aello. “I don’t _care_ if the slipstream quarks are fluctuating, I just want to see if you’re alright!”

The Doctor folded his arms and glared at his transport, and Aello had the strangest feeling it was staring back. Then he rolled his eyes and sighed. “ _Fine_.” He looked at Aello. “Since she’s busy _decorating_ , perhaps you could give me a proper tour of your town?”

Aello thought of all the chores she still had to do, and drew breath to decline. But then she remembered his broken voice, his wild eyes fixed on nothing at all, and found she hadn’t the heart to deny him. Besides, she wanted to find out more about his accident, didn’t she?

“Sure,” she finally replied. And the Doctor beamed, pulling her own mouth up in response.

* * *

“Ah, markets!” The Doctor gestured at the stalls lining the street, enthusiasm undimmed by the fact that it was almost deserted; not even all the vendors had returned yet. “Got to love a good market,” he added, bouncing on his heels before dashing over to the nearest stall.

Aello followed more slowly, wondering if she would ever get used to the way this man’s mind worked. If he _was_ a man, she thought suddenly. His eyes, in the kitchen, and the feeling of falling in every direction at once – that wasn’t normal. But he couldn’t be some sort of desert spirit: his body seemed real enough …

“Aello!” A familiar voice interrupted her line of thought.

She looked up to see Jed waving at her over the Doctor’s shoulder, who was bent over examining the gnarled vegetables. 

“I thought you were done for the day?” Jed tilted his head at the Doctor, asking another question entirely.

“I bumped into a stranger just before the dust storm. When it finished, he wanted to be shown around …” Aello trailed off as she and Jed watched said stranger run his finger down a grey pumpkin, then lick it.

“Earth origin,” the Doctor said, as if continuing a conversation. “Of course, you are too, but this is _recent_ -”

“Earth?” Aello frowned; he’d said that word before. “You mean, Genesis? The Homeworld?”

“Homeworld,” the Doctor echoed, and swallowed, not before Aello saw a flash of pain cross his face. “Exactly. You’ve been here, what, a hundred years? Give or take?”

“The colonists arrived a hundred and forty years ago,” said Aello’s schooling, automatically. Then the rest of her mind caught up. “You’ve _been_ there?”

“Forty, I’m slipping.” The Doctor tutted. “Never was good at dates. I told you I get around, didn’t I?” He took Aello’s hand, pulling her away before she could protest. “Come, I want to see this Great Desert of yours.”

 

“You didn’t just crash in this town, did you?” Aello stopped at the base of the wall, certain she was right. “You crashed on this _world!_ That ship, it goes between worlds!”

The Doctor paused, one foot on the steps. “And much more besides.” He started to smile, then scowled instead. “When she’s not busy _spring-cleaning_.”

“So how did you get here?” 

For a moment, Aello thought he wouldn’t answer; then the Doctor sighed and began to climb the stairs, like moving helped him talk. “Something startled the TARDIS – my ship. She was still jittery after … well.” He hesitated, making Aello almost run into him. “Enforced cannibalism! Don’t try it at home. Though if you were in the Newt Cluster, it could-”

“Doctor!” Aello was learning to head off his tangents. “Your accident?”

“Oh, yes.” He stopped, turning to face her. “You see, we travel through … well, sort of a dust storm, I suppose. Goes very fast but you need the right protection to use it. And the TARDIS jumped straight into it without putting her shields up first.”

Aello gasped, imagining walking defenceless through a dust storm. The Doctor nodded, grim-faced, and resumed climbing.

“So she went crashing through the Vortex, popping in and out at random, which just made the fires worse. Finally I got her to calm down enough to land somewhere properly – which was here. Then she kicked me out before any gas escaped, so I still don’t know what she was running from!”

Aello absorbed this, questions jostling for position, but the Doctor reached the top of the wall before she could ask any. She walked over to where he was exclaiming over the view, and one pushed past the queue to land on her tongue.

“How can a ship kick you out?” 

“By _cheating_.” The Doctor crossed his arms and glared at the empty plain below. “She shifted her gravity, so I _fell_ out. Straight into your gravity field, may I add, which was not pleasant …” He shook his head. “I’m going to have to talk to her about that.”

Aello was going to ask more questions, but she was too busy picturing the Doctor and his strange box having an entirely silent argument. 

Oblivious, the Doctor took a deep breath. “Ah, nothing like fresh dust filling your-” He choked, one hand catching the stone parapet, one slipping inside his coat. “What-” Before Aello could grab her water flask, he’d straightened up, sweeping a silvery rod through the air.

A throbbing whistle pierced her ears, ending in a high-pitched trill as the Doctor held the rod in front of his face. Aello noticed it had a blue light at the top, like his ship. She switched her gaze to the Doctor in time to see his eyebrows do something curious, ending up in a frown.

“Oh dear,” said the Doctor, quietly. He shut his eyes for a moment, then grimaced and snapped them open. “Of all times to-”

“What is it?”

“Looks like whatever scared the TARDIS came after us … something’s trying to come through!” He turned and ran down the steps, jumping three at a time, almost slipping on the dust.

“Where are you going?” Aello cried, following as fast as she could without breaking her neck.

“Back to the TARDIS!” The Doctor’s coat billowed behind him as he reached the bottom and sprinted down the street. “I have to find out what-”

He stumbled and nearly fell as a crack of thunder shook the ground. Aello clutched at the wall for balance, then kept running with her hands over her ears. It sounded as if the air was being ripped apart.

She got to the Doctor just as he muttered, “Too late.” Then they both looked up at the sky.

* * *

A gash of blinding white light appeared above their heads, accompanied by such noise and pressure Aello staggered to her knees. When it cut off, she uncovered her head in time to see a whirling black cloud shoot down and engulf the still-upright Doctor. 

She tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t hold her weight. Aello could only watch, horrified, at the black vortex where the Doctor had been. She could just hear a faint scream over the roaring in her ears. Then a blue spark appeared in the cloud, and it seemed to turn inside out. It changed into white fog, then a storm of golden lights that spread out and vanished.

In its place was the Doctor, holding his little metal rod. He swayed, groaning, and collapsed next to Aello.

“Doctor! Are you alright?” Her voice sounded strange, but the noise in her ears was fading.

“Ow.” He raised his head, spitting dust. “I’ve had better days.” He rolled over and sat up with a wince.

“What happened?”

“It felt like it was … sucking energy out of me.” He shuddered. “But it wasn’t used to organic matter, so I managed to lock the sonic onto it.”

Aello looked around. “Did you … kill it?”

“No!” The Doctor stared at her in shock. “It’s a _screwdriver_ , it doesn’t kill anything! And I wouldn’t-” He sighed, twirling the rod in his hands then putting it away. “I didn’t kill it, I just … encouraged it to dissipate.” 

“How?”

“It didn’t really have a physical form, so it was simple enough to get the nuclei to increase their repulsive-” He stopped at Aello’s blank look. “I guess you could say I diluted it. With the air.”

“Uh-huh.” Aello thought the first explanation was better. “What _was_ that thing, anyway?” she asked, as the Doctor stood up and offered her his hand.

“A virivore – an energy parasite. It must be after the Huon particles in the TARDIS …”

“We have to stop it, then! Protect your t… ship!” Aello thought the Doctor looked far too calm, considering something had torn a hole through space to eat his box.

“The TARDIS has locked herself up so even I can’t get in – she’s safe enough. But that parasite’s going to stay here till it can latch on to _something_ , and I can’t get rid of it without using the TARDIS!”

Aello watched the Doctor pace back and forth, desperate to help but barely understanding why it was needed, let alone how to give it.

“Maybe if I can force it to take a shape, I could trap it somehow … ah, but how can I do that from out here?” He ran a hand through his hair and stopped, clutching his head like he was trying to pull an answer out of it.

Then one popped into Aello’s head instead. At least, an idea appeared, if it wasn’t quite an answer. But she couldn’t tell the Doctor yet.

“Come back to the house,” she said. “Ma’s stew will be ready soon, and you can’t think on an empty stomach.”

The Doctor cocked his head. “Well, actually-”

“I want some solid walls between me and that thing,” Aello interrupted. “Don’t you?” The quaver in her voice was not hard to fake.

It certainly got the Doctor’s attention; he walked over to her and took her hand. “Of course,” he said gently. “Lead on.”

 

With the Doctor safely under her mother’s eye, Aello set out to discover if her crazy idea was actually possible. She _was_ going to the library, as she’d told Ma; she just needed to find the sacerdos first.

Aello poked her head into the temple, but she wasn’t there. The sacerdos usually walked the streets for hours after a dust storm, looking for the mysterious signs that would tell her what mood the Venti were in.

Finally Aello found the sacerdos close to where the viri- parasite thing had appeared, brushing the ground with stained fingers and muttering. Aello hesitated, not wanting to be rude, but then the woman straightened and looked at her.

“Aello.” Her solemn tone sent a chill down Aello’s spine, even outside of the temple and its heady incense. “Auster has brought down a new storm upon us. Have you angered him, my child?”

“Me?” Aello forgot her question and just stared. “How am I involved?”

The sacerdos gestured around. “You were here, were you not?”

“I- oh.” Guilt stabbed at her insides, but Aello pushed the feeling away. She was on a mission. “I don’t think it was the South Wind, I think it was a rogue desert spirit-”

“The spirits do not enter our walls, child,” the sacerdos interrupted. “We made a compact with Caurus and he holds the spirits to it.”

“I know, this was a _different_ -” Aello broke off, trying to form a good argument. If only she’d listened better in class when they’d covered this … “I think the spirits might know something about how to stop this. Maybe you could ask one of them, or Caurus himself …”

“The Venti are not at our beck and call!” The sacerdos drew herself up, wrapping her maroon robe tighter as if to ward off Aello’s words. “You are in enough trouble already without this blasphemy!”

“Right, yes.” Aello quickly stepped backwards before the sacerdos could drag her back to the temple for penance. “Sorry. I’ll just-” And she ran off to the library.

Her teacher gave her a strange look when she burst in, panting and dishevelled, but she ignored him. Smoothing down her dress, she walked calmly over to the alcove and asked the old interface to show her all the books on desert spirit summoning.

* * *

“ _Now_ will you tell me what you’re up to?” the Doctor asked, sounding almost petulant. 

Aello reached inside her bag for the sack of ashes, turned to say it was _her_ turn to be enigmatic, thank you, and saw he was already distracted.

“We’re in a basin!” He squinted at the sun, nearly touching the rim of the horizon. “Couldn’t tell from up there.”

“Tundor was built in the dip so the worst of the wind would pass over the top of us. But it makes it harder to see the storms coming.” Aello knew she was babbling, but it was that or dwell on the fact that she was outside the safety of the walls _and_ about to actively call the spirits to her.

The Doctor watched as she poured the ashes in a circle before them. “So how is oxidised carbon going to help our virivore problem?”

“I’m going to try and summon it, like a desert spirit.”

The Doctor blinked. “I see,” he said, scepticism creeping into his voice though his face showed only polite interest.

“Your … virivore thing looked a lot like the spirit I saw once. Just a spinning cloud of dust, but it stayed in one place and _looked_ at me.”

He gazed into her eyes for a long moment, then nodded. “Do you think it’ll work?”

“It’ll summon the closest spirit. That should be the virivore, right?” She didn’t mention that the nearest spirit could be the Doctor. It was a long shot, anyway; the ritual might not work on him or this parasite. He didn’t appear to be overly worried about the ritual, so that was a good sign. Or maybe he _was_ a spirit, but knew she couldn’t do it properly …

As if reading her thoughts, the Doctor asked, “Have you done this before?”

“Yes!” Aello fiddled with her bag strap. “No. Well …”

The Doctor raised one eyebrow with cold precision.

“I read a book, okay?” She quashed the urge to shift her weight and folded her arms instead. “It had diagrams!”

“I really don’t think-”

“You have a better idea?”

“I-” The Doctor stopped and glared at her. “I _will_ , I just-” He cut himself off with a sigh. “I guess I can’t talk: I flew the TARDIS for the first time having only read a book. Nearly crashed into a quasar.” He looked sheepish for a moment as he scratched his head, but quickly replaced it with a stern frown. “What happens if _you_ get it wrong?”

Aello easily summarised the book’s pages of warnings. “We die.”

He nodded again, slowly, both brows raised. “Good to know.” Then the Doctor stepped back, waving at the circle of ashes. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

Aello put her bag down, pulling out the rest of the equipment she’d begged off her mother. She poured the sweetened oil into the bowl, careful not to spill any. Then she steeled herself and pricked her finger with the dagger, which made the Doctor start forward. She scowled him into silence and rubbed the whole rim of the bowl.

“The spirit can’t talk unless you provide a blood connection,” Aello explained, trying to sound professional. But her fingers shook as she lit a match and dropped it into the oil. She lifted the bowl and hesitated, suddenly uncertain if she could manage to put it in the centre of the circle without burning herself.

“Here.” The Doctor’s hands were warm as he took the bowl from her. Surely he was a real person. Well, she’d find out soon enough.

“Don’t touch the ashes,” she said as the Doctor bent over, instinctively not entering the circle. Aello stood up, wiping blood on her lips, resisting the impulse to suck her finger. The book had been very clear about that, and besides, she’d never liked the metallic taste.

She stared into the yellow flames, willing the words to come out past her heart pulsing in her throat. Finally they tripped off her tongue, calling Caurus to send one of his disciples to her. Not what she actually wanted, though; would the Wind know that? Would she be punished for using his ritual on some alien parasite?

Aello was half-convinced she was about to be blown away for her impertinence when a golden spark appeared in the circle. She finished the incantation with a gasp, leaning forward to watch as the more lights came, dancing with the fire. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor do the same.

“You’ve done i-”

A blast of wind swept away the rest of his sentence, and when Aello lowered her arm, there was a desert spirit inside the circle.

 

Aello looked carefully, but there was no sign of the virivore, or her bowl for that matter: just a column of dust and the unmistakable presence of _something_.

“Aren’t you _beautiful_.” Aello glanced over to see the Doctor standing an inch away from the line of ashes, face stretched in that too-wide grin. “We can ask questions, I assume?”

“ _You may_ ,” said Aello’s mouth, making her cough in surprise. The book hadn’t mentioned the spirit’s wind-voice leaving dust in her throat. “ _You are not of their world_ ,” the spirit added, not quite a question.

The Doctor stepped towards her as Aello coughed again, but she waved him back. Stop complimenting it and ask for help, she thought, since she was too winded to speak.

“No.” The Doctor turned to face the spirit. “And neither is the creature we seek. Do you know where it is now?”

“ _We sensed its arrival, a great disturbance in the air_.” The spirit paused while Aello tried to clear her throat. “ _Its form is even more flexible than ours, we cannot_ …” Silence stretched on. Aello checked her hands, thinking she had wiped the blood from her mouth accidentally, but they were clean.

She looked up to see the desert spirit move, halting at the circle’s edge and then surging forwards as the ashes blew away. The dust cloud roared, growing taller, and her jaw dropped but no sound came out.

“Aello!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, and then opened them in shock when cloth covered her face. The Doctor must have run in front of her; she could feel his hand on her right arm. His grip faltered as a sudden gust sent them both staggering backwards.

Aello peered around his arm to see the black vortex had reappeared, streaked with sand as it fought with the spirit. Seconds later, the dust hissed to the ground and the virivore started towards them.

Aello flinched, the Doctor raised his other arm, and she heard the sharp whistle as his screwdriver lit up. She tore her gaze away from the black cloud for a moment, curious to see the Doctor’s expression; what little she could see of his face was frightening.

Then the virivore arced up into the sky, and it was over. The Doctor turned and looked over his shoulder at her, dropping his hand to grasp hers. “Alright?” he said, beaming and breathless.

Aello wasn’t sure. She felt like the desert spirit was inside her, churning up a dizzying cloud of too many emotions to count. On impulse, she jerked her hand out of his grip and hugged him tightly. The Doctor wavered, and then she felt him awkwardly patting her back.

It took a little while to realise it wasn’t just her own pulse thundering through her head. Aello pulled her head back, frowning, and pressed her ear against the other side of his chest. The same steady rhythm was there too.

“Ah.” The Doctor’s voice vibrated against her cheek. 

“You have two hearts!” Aello stumbled back, the spirit’s words echoing from her memory. She pointed at the Doctor with a trembling finger. “Why do you have two hearts?”

He reached out to her, then seemed to think better of it and spread his hands instead. “The same reason you’ve only got one; I was born with them.”

“But you’re not-”

“No. I did say I get around.” The Doctor rested his hands over his hearts. “And I _do_ have a real body. It’s just … a little different to yours.”

“How?”

“Oh, a few things …” He put his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels as he considered. “The _most_ relevant right now being that I can manipulate some types of radiation. Should come in handy for trapping that virivore. But first, we ought to go back inside: it’s getting dark. _Allons-y!_ ” The Doctor stepped towards the wall with a flourish.

Aello didn’t move. “What are you?” she whispered, suddenly feeling very much alone.

“I’m a traveller,” said the Doctor, turning around to face her. “I brought this creature to your world, and I’m going to stop it before it destroys anything else!”

Aello looked down, telling herself she was searching for the bowl but actually avoiding his eyes in case they made her gravity disappear again. “It really killed the desert spirit, then?” she asked, quickly packing her bag and following the Doctor into town. It was a hard concept to grasp; all she could think of was how mad the sacerdos was going to be.

“Seems like it.” The Doctor glanced down at her, and Aello was relieved to see his gaze had lost its fire. “It must have been hungry after going through the Vortex like that. Hopefully the spirit will satisfy it for now. But unless we get rid of it, the virivore’ll start going after the other spirits – or learn to eat people.” 

Aello clamped down on her imagination before it could use the spirit summoning book to produce any grisly images. The concept alone was enough to deal with.

“So, Aello, I want you to show me this book.” A brilliant smile spread across his face. “I just might have an idea.”

* * *

It took some convincing for Idetta to let Aello return to the library; lengthy promises of common sense and full disclosure were extracted before she could leave. The thin morning light was just touching the top of the wall by the time Aello finally arrived.

She walked into the library and gaped. The building had been ransacked; wires and other circuitry were strewn everywhere, the untouched bookcases islands in a sea of chaos. The librarian, her teacher, was nowhere to be seen.

“Ae’o!” The Doctor’s head appeared around a corner, sonic screwdriver clamped in his mouth. He was wearing something that looked like goggles, but weren’t, that she vaguely recognised from history books. He waved her over.

Aello found him crouched beside a cleared area, where what looked like most of the interface machinery was arranged in a large circle. The screwdriver whined in his hand as he adjusted some wiring, squinting through the lenses on his nose with his tongue out.

She said the first thing that came into her head. “Did you sleep at _all?_ ” She’d had her first nightmares in years, but at least she’d tried.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. “While I’ve got a world and at least two intelligent species to save? Don’t be daft.” Then he sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “I probably _should_ rest soon, it’s been weeks, but then I remember …” Aello could practically see him yank his mind back from some terrible chasm, and flick her a grin. “Apparently I go a bit mad when I haven’t recharged for a while. Start messing with the TARDIS’ neutron flow.”

“I’m not surprised,” said Aello, ignoring the last sentence. “What have you built?”

“A state-of-the-art virivore trap!” The Doctor stood up and surveyed his handiwork proudly, tucking the not-goggles in his coat. “Well, cubism at the very least. Nice fellow, Picasso. Anyway, I’ve got the mechanics done. But I want some ashes too, just in case. We’ll only get one shot at this.”

“But they didn’t-”

“Wrong carbon. You used coal ashes from your home, didn’t you?” He barely waited for Aello to nod before continuing. “The book probably refers to specifically prepared wood ashes. You have a temple here?”

“Yes, but the sacerdos will never let you-”

“Oh, I never bother with _permission_.” The Doctor gestured airily until he caught Aello’s horrified look. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask for it. I can be quite convincing when I want to be. Well, usually. I got the librarian out of here, didn’t I?”

Aello never found out how he convinced the sacerdos; once she’d led the Doctor to the temple, he told her to wait outside. Given her previous conversation with the sacerdos, she had to admit it was a good idea. The Doctor was only a few minutes inside before he came hurrying out, tucking something small and black into his coat.

“Come along!” He hefted an urn into both hands and strode down the street. “She’s a smart one, your priestess, not sure how long that’ll fool her …”

Aello was too busy keeping up to ask questions as they rushed back to the library.

 

“You done with the ashes, Aello? Excellent,” said the Doctor as she plonked the urn beside him in answer. He stood up and dragged her over to the wall. “Now, when the virivore comes, and it’s _all_ inside the circle, you need to flick this switch. The electrons will flow through all the circuits in opposite directions, setting up the magnetic fields, which-” He stopped when Aello crossed her arms. “It should hold the virivore in place.”

“Should?”

“That’s what the ashes are for.” He dashed back to the circle before Aello could object. “I don’t think it’ll come if the power’s on to start with.”

“What are you using to call it in?”

“The bait?” The Doctor bent over and picked up a metal box. “Me. Specifically, me and some radiation.”

“What?” Aello couldn’t believe he would object to her plan when his was just like it. “You can’t!”

The Doctor tried to look stern, but his mouth kept pulling up into a grin. “I am _considerably_ older than you, dear girl. I assure you I am quite capable of assessing the risks.” 

“But …” You’re sleep-deprived, she didn’t quite dare say. “How are you going to stop it if you’re in there?”

“I’ll only be in there to lure it; I’ll come out once it’s preoccupied with the radiation. Hopefully.”

“But the … circuits? How will you get past?”

“They only stop energy. I’m pretty sure the virivore sucked any stray Vortex energy off me the first time we met.”

Aello frowned. “Pretty sure.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “ _Yes_. Now stay there, I don’t want any stray particles to hit you.”

Aello watched as he fiddled with the box, then took a sharp breath in. He set it down and started jiggling on the spot, shaking his arms.

“Don’t scratch, don’t scratch …” The Doctor hopped over the wiring and walked around the circle, moving his hands like he was passing a ball between them. “Come on, then!” he called suddenly, making Aello jump. “Got some nice juicy alpha particles for you!” 

Aello held her breath, watching for any hint of golden light, but the long moments passed without anything appearing. Finally she had to breathe properly, and found her eyes tracking the Doctor’s hands instead.

“I don’t-”

“Shh!” The Doctor stopped, listening, and slowly raised one hand. His fingers kept moving, Aello noticed; was it dangerous if he stayed still, or just uncomfortable?

Then the golden sparks winked into existence, slowly at first, faster as the Doctor shifted positions, smiling like it was a great game. His grin faded when the sparks gathered above him, and Aello thought she saw him counting. The lights turned into the familiar black cloud, and the Doctor snapped his arm out as he threw himself in the opposite direction.

“Now!”

Aello turned the circuits on, expecting something dramatic to happen but only hearing a dull hum. It must have worked, though; the virivore streaked to the centre of the circle as the Doctor laughed from the floor.

“Gotcha,” he said.

The vortex roared towards him, and he scrambled into a crouch then jumped out of the circle. The virivore let off white steam and arched back, while the Doctor rolled into a bookcase.

When Aello reached him she saw his hair was standing on end from static electricity. The Doctor ran his hands over it as he caught his breath, and patted himself down. 

“Still got legs? Brilliant!” He bounced to his feet. “Great way to wake yourself up, that. Don’t try it.” The Doctor walked around the circle, checking the machinery. Aello suppressed a shudder as the virivore followed him round, but he didn’t seem to notice.

The Doctor finished his inspection and straightened up, peering into the circle as if he could see the forces trapping the virivore. Maybe he could, Aello thought.

“I’m terribly sorry about all this,” the Doctor told his captive, “but I can’t have you running around a habited planet.” He fell silent, perhaps waiting for an answer.

Aello was not so patient. “What are you going to do now?”

“Now?” The Doctor glanced at her and rummaged in his pockets. “The TARDIS should open up now it’s trapped, and I can get something to keep it in.”

“You mean something … portable?” Aello didn’t see how the elaborate setup could be miniaturised.

“Oh, yes.” The Doctor pulled out a key and walked over to the door. “I’ve got hundreds of carrionites in a little globe, I’m sure I can manage one virivore.” He reached the doorway and turned around. “I want you to stay here, Aello; it could try to escape. I’m going to summon the TARDIS so I can get that container as soon as possible.”

“But …”

Aello trailed off as the Doctor moved some metres away from the door, and stuck out the key in front of him. She couldn’t see what was happening, but the pulsing noise she’d heard yesterday returned. A hiss from behind her made her look back inside, to see the virivore throwing itself against its prison.

She watched it for a few moments, heart pounding, but it didn’t break free. Aello put her head outside again to see the Doctor step through the door of his blue box. She didn’t think twice. 

* * *

Aello didn’t notice the door brush past her fingers and swing itself shut. She was gaping at the huge room impossibly crammed into the narrow box, twisting columns and inexplicable machinery around a central pillar that looked like water made out of light. 

The Doctor’s head appeared from below the main platform. “Aello?”

“Bigger …” She couldn’t stop staring at the soft blue light, which was now fading to reveal two sets of clear cylinders.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I _thought_ it had to be bigger, the way you were carrying on.”

“Aello!” The Doctor was suddenly just in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. “I told you to keep an eye on the virivore!”

“You expect me to stay out there when your ship’s finally open?”

The Doctor muttered something that sounded distinctly like _humans_ and turned away. “Fine!” he said, walking over to a doorway Aello could have sworn wasn’t there before. She followed, and heard sweet music when he opened the door. She just had time to catch a glimpse of a fountain before the Doctor slammed it shut.

“Not _now!_ ” he snapped, holding his temples. He pulled at the door again, this time stepping through into a storeroom filled with junk.

Aello’s mouth opened, but it was hardly the strangest thing she’d seen that day. “What was wrong?” she asked instead.

The Doctor poked around the shelves, not looking at her, movements jerky. “The TARDIS thinks I haven’t meditated for too long – my people’s version of sleep. It used to be a great communal affair; we’d all drift off together …” He paused, gazing past her shoulder at something light years away.

Aello jumped when a noise came from behind her, mechanical but immistakably comforting. The Doctor closed his eyes, not smiling exactly, but his face settled into a more peaceful expression. Aello silently thanked the ship for getting rid of that bleak yearning; it made her feel so small.

“Here we are!” The Doctor grabbed something from the back of the room and held it out. At first, Aello thought it was just a metal cube, but then she looked through the lattice and saw a clear globe of probably-not-glass inside. The whole thing rested snugly in the Doctor’s palm.

“That’s it?” It was rather unimpressive. Then again, so was the outside of his ship.

“Yes.” The Doctor drove Aello ahead of him as he walked briskly to the main doors. “Good things come in small packages, do you still say that? Though if it’s dimensionally transcendental, you’d better hope it’s good …”

Aello shook her head as they went back inside the library. Just when she thought she’d get used to the crazy things he said …

The virivore was hard to see inside the circle for all the white smoke; it must have been pushing against the forces holding it in all the while they were inside the TARDIS. Aello tried not to think about what would have happened if it had escaped. It wasn’t like she could have done anything to stop it, after all.

“Alright, Aello, I need you to man the switch again.” The Doctor rolled his eyes when Aello raised her brow at him (she’d practised). “ _Human_ the switch? It’s hardly a verb.”

“It’ll do.” She walked over and grasped the lever. “You want me to turn it off again?”

The Doctor nodded, concentrating on whatever he was doing to the cube with his sonic screwdriver. “This is packed with energy, the current needs to be down before I can put it inside.” He moved to the other side of the circle, and Aello realised he was putting himself between the virivore and his ship. She swallowed. The Doctor held the cube out. “Three, two, one.”

Aello turned off the power, and the Doctor must have tossed the cube inside the circle; she couldn’t see through all the smoke. A sudden gust blew it against her face, then reversed and sucked the air in so hard Aello staggered forward. She had only taken a couple of steps when the wind stopped.

“Doctor?” Aello peered through the remains of the smoke and saw him still bracing himself against the machinery. She walked towards him, coughing. “Did it work?”

The Doctor reached into the circle and picked up the cube. “Yes!” He shone his screwdriver at it one last time, then turned to her, beaming. “See?”

Aello looked. The globe was now filled with black fog, drifting gently around. She had a feeling the virivore was actually moving a lot faster, but now, it wasn’t going anywhere.

“Now I can find it a new home!” The Doctor tucked the virivore into his pocket and jogged over to the door. “Maybe a nice supernova, that should keep it occupied. Though we’ll need a delayed opening, few hours, so it can’t pull the same trick and come after us …”

He was almost out the door before Aello cleared her throat. “What about my library?”

“Oh.” The Doctor looked guilty. “I think it was a one-way trip for most of the wiring, I’m afraid …”

“You mean you were so focused on saving the world you destroyed the interface?” Aello shook her head. “Disgraceful.”

She tried to frown, but the Doctor was grinning again and she couldn’t help but laugh and follow him outside. When he reached the TARDIS and turned back to face her, though, he was serious.

“Normally I’d ask you to come with me,” he said, and Aello froze, mind whirling with fantastic possibilities. “But I’m quite sure your mother would kill me.”

Aello smiled. “She would.”

“And I can’t put you in any more dan-”

“I don’t want to go with you.” She never wanted to see that terrible, lonely look on his face again, for one thing. It wasn’t _her_ company he longed for. 

The Doctor tilted his head, watching her. “What _do_ you want, then?”

“I think my own world’s exciting enough for me.” Aello looked up into his dark eyes. “I just haven’t seen it yet. I want to go to the big city, learn about all the religions and people there. Maybe I’ll find some more spirits to talk to!”

The Doctor grinned. “At least read a few more books before you try that again.”

Aello tossed her head. “I suppose.” She stood back and gave the Doctor a formal bow. “Good luck, Doctor. May you find all that you seek.”

The ritual farewell seemed to surprise him. “Oh, not everything, I hope,” he said at last. “More fun that way.”

Then he stepped inside his box, and Aello waited until the last echoes had faded before turning home. She knew she wouldn’t see him again.


End file.
